Klopp: Gakpo signing was all about timing

Jurgen Klopp says that Liverpool pounced at exactly the right time to sign Cody Gakpo.

In keeping with the methodical way that the club has conducted its transfers in recent seasons, the Dutch winger was a player who was identified as a player of interest and then negotiations were undertaken between PSV and Liverpool.

And while other clubs made it publicly known they were interested in the 23 year-old, it felt like a surprise late Christmas present coming down the chimney for Reds fans as there was very little in terms of linking Gakpo to Liverpool.

The disruption to the Premier League season due to the World Cup has been widely discussed and while undoubtedly a inconvenience in terms of timing, it gave Football fans a opportunity to familiarise themselves with players that they may not have taken note of previously.

Gakpo was one of the breakout stars of the tournament scoring three goals and his link-up play and overall skill-set certainly catching the eye.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s Friday night clash with Leicester City at Anfield (per the Echo), Klopp spoke about how these types of transfers are executed by the club.

“He is a young player with a lot of potential,” If he would have already been scoring 40 goals in Spain or whatever he would be unaffordable.

“These kind of things, it’s all about timing, getting these boys at the right moment that they didn’t already score 55 goals per season and stuff like this. That’s why we were really convinced.

“He could always make the next step, and that makes it interesting. We believe in our process, when players come here – especially offensive players – they have all made a step forward because of the way we work and the way we can help them. That makes it massively interesting.”

And while Liverpool have sprinted out of the gates and made a signal of intent, Klopp says that they are still going to stick to the script when it comes to their spending model.

“In principle it’s like this for all people in the world, the money you spend has an impact on the money you can spend (in the future),” he said. “It’s not that increases it. It has nothing to do with each other. We know what we want to do and we will see if we can do it.

“It’s about money, of course, but it’s more about how it always was – about the right players. And we are really, really happy that we could get Cody.”

Klopp didn’t waste the opportunity to give their rivals on the red side of Manchester a clip in terms of how to handle negotiations in the right way.

“I like what Pep Lijnders said – ‘we discuss these things in the boardroom and not in the press room. To bring in Cody in the way we brought him in is a really good sign. Especially the job Jules (Julian Ward) did was exceptional.

“Quite a few people were involved and knew about it, but nothing came out which is very, very helpful in all departments.”